David Selleck (1700 - 1750)

Born 23 Dec 1700 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Mercy (Waterbury) Selleck — married 3 Jan 1722 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States

Descendants

Died 28 Apr 1750 at age 49 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

From THE SELLECK. SENTINEL, PAGE 11"

SRA Five-Generation Project THE FOURTH GENERATION DAVID4 SELLECK (NATHANIEL3, JOHN2, DAVID1)

• BIRTH

David4 Selleck was born 23 December 1700 at Stamford, CT, the son of Nathanie3 Selleck and Sarah Lockwood.1

• DEATH

He died 28 April 1750 at Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, Buried at the Granary Burial Ground, The remains of thousands of Boston citizens and notables lie within the walls of the Granary. Along with Massachusetts governors, mayors and clergymen, visitors will find the graves of three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine; Peter Faneuil, benefactor of the famed downtown Boston landmark; patriot and craftsman Paul Revere; James Otis, Revolutionary orator and lawyer; and five victims of the Boston Massacre. Near the center of the ground, a 25-foot-tall obelisk commemorates the tomb of Benjamin Franklin's parents. Also, the grave of David Selleck

• MARRIAGE

David married Mercy Waterbury on 3 January 1722/3 at Stamford, CT.3 It was a civil ceremony performed by Joseph Bishop, Justice of the Peace. Mercy, the daughter of Lt. David Waterbury and Sarah Weed was born on 27 Jan 17064 at Stamford, CT, where she died before 5 June 1759.5

• RESIDENCES

David was born in Stamford and raised there after his father's death and his mother's remarriage to Benjamin Hickock. Around the time of his marriage to Mercy Selleck he took up the lands in Stamford he had inherited from his father. Although he lived in Stamford for all of his life, he owned land in Norwalk and Westchester County, New York.

• OCCUPATION

David earned his livelihood as a farmer and possibly as a coastal trader. He was the owner of a sloop named "Charming Sally." [SPR 5:13]

• EDUCATION

He could sign his name and presumably was educated although there were no books listed in the inventory of his estate, unlike for his father and grandfather. Education was probably important to him for he stipulated in his will that money be set aside from his estate for his children's education. [SPR 5:13)

• OFFICES

David is not named in town or church records as the holder of any office. On 15 May 1718 he did register the ear mark in town records that "which was his father Nathaniel Sellecks whilst he lived, viz; a crop on the off ear.” [STR 1:208, original 156)

• ESTATE

When his father, Nathanie3 Selleck died in 1712, David was not yet twelve years old. Although David was still a minor, as the eldest son he was entitled to the largest share of his father's estate. As later described in a 1730 "instrument of division» Nathanie3 Selleck's land holdings amounted to more than three hundred acres of "upland, swamp, salt and fresh meadow." [SLR:291]

David's share of his father's real and personal estate wallet, at £245. Eleven of the items were real Estate: the house at the farm, one third of the old house and one third of half of the old barn and one third of the farm at Runkenheag below the fence (the most valuable item), one third of the land above the fence in the first division at Runkenheag, one half of the 19 acres of land at Noroton River, two acres of land below the road at Noroton River, the barn at the waterside, one fourth of a sawmill at Five Mile River, the land and meadow in Long Neck, a small right in Scott's meadow, 1/2 of the right in the second division of Short Rocks, and one half of the sequester land. The personal items included a musket, a canoe, half of his fathers "wareing cloathes," a "payr of silver shew buckeles, silver tooth picks and one gold ring" bullet molds, half the shot molds, three swords, and two belts. [FPR 5:267-8]

Since Nathaniel’s sons were all minors, Sarah Selleck and her second husband Benjamin Hickcox represented David4, Nathaniel4, and John4, until the boys reached their majority, as guardians in real estate transactions among their cousins (the children of Jonathan3) since the estates of Jonathan2 and John2 were still intertwined.

David was about twenty two years old in 1722/23 when he married Mercy Waterbury, daughter of Lt. David Waterbury (a hero of King Philip's War). She was sixteen, the youngest of his seven children and just an infant when her father died in 1706. Within weeks of his marriage David entered into his first land transaction. On 21 Jan 1722/23 David Selleck sold to Frances Brown for £18 Connecticut money 6-1/2 acres of horse pasture in the East Field. [SLR B:443).

The second agreement made that day was for land in which Mercy had a share following the terms of her father's will. For £12 David and Mercy Selleck granted to Mercy's brother, David Waterbury, rights to land or meadow in Noroton Neck belonging to another of her brothers, Ebenezer Waterbury, deceased. [SLR B:451) Others transactions were concluded between Mercy's brothers, David and Benjamin Waterbury. On 22 Nov 1723 David Selleck granted to David Waterbury for £20 "two acres in partnership and undivided with two acres more of David Waterbury except on the west side one third belonging to widow Sarah Selleck during her natural life as her dower." [SLR B:478] On 24 Dee 1725 Isaac How, Mercy's brother-in-law, and her brother David Waterbury granted David Selleck for £18 about 35 acres described as "two sixth parts of one third of tract lying northeast from upper end of Great Ox ring "which said land was formerly laid out unto Lt. David Waterbury." [SLR C:31] Some transfers were related to Mercy's inheritance from her father such as the one mentioned above.

Sources

• Norwalk by Rev. Charles M. Selleck A.M., 1896 - https://archive.org/details/ldpd_8661434_000/mode/2up?q=David+Selleck
• Selleck Researchers Association, Selleck Sentinel, Five Generation Report
• Granary Cemetery Grave #A-248 Find-A-Grave - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21706362/david-selleck
• https://archive.org/details/gravestonegranar00codm/page/210/mode/2up?q=Selleck

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Selleck-55 created through the import of 40f34n_6381914xxkb3042nf36756.ged on Feb 27, 2012 by Angela Kohl.
• This person was created through the import of 229-Davies.ged on 19 October 2010.